The present invention concerns an aircraft wing comprising a flight control surface, for example, an aileron. More particularly, but not exclusively, this invention concerns an aircraft wing comprising an aileron and a wing tip device.
There is a trend towards increasingly large passenger aircraft, for which it is desirable to have correspondingly large wing spans. However, the maximum aircraft span is effectively limited by airport operating rules which govern various clearances required when maneuvering around the airport (such as the span and/or ground clearance required for gate entry and safe taxiway usage). To address this problem, various arrangements comprising moveable wing tip devices, that specifically enable the span to be reduced in a ground configuration, have been suggested. For example, WO2015/150835 is an example with a wing tip device and fixed wing being separated along an oblique cut plane, with the wing tip device being rotatable about an axis or rotation perpendicular to that cut plane.
However, the use of such wing tip devices has meant that ailerons, which are typically located towards the end of a wing, have to be moved inboard on the wing, or reduced in length, as the presence of a junction between the movable wing tip device and fixed wing means conventional ailerons would not be operable. This reduces the effectiveness of the ailerons.
The present invention seeks to mitigate the above-mentioned problems. Alternatively or additionally, the present invention seeks to provide an improved aircraft wing.